Susan Wang ADAD1002 2018

[susan10022018]

Week 8: Value (Late Post)

In Week 8, we explored the topic of value, and how value changes according to how art is made or viewed. This was done through the class task, which was to create an abstract object. My group’s (Bree, Jess) evolved from a beer hat in its original form to something like architecture (similar to the Tatlin monument) when drawn, into something that resembled a crown after it was scanned using 3D printer technology. This shows how in different mediums, from differing views, people can value the same thing to different degrees.

[bridieoliver]

Week 10 - GLiTch

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Week 10: Glitch

A continuation from the previous post, except this time an image from the Internet was used. 

[bridieoliver]

Week 10 - GLiTch

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Week 10: Glitch

Another class task was to use Photoshop to create a glitch in an image. This involved using different programs and doing things that seemed completely “wrong”. In a way, it was invigorating as these actions gave peculiar yet artist results. 

[ellie-kallmier-blog]

GLITCH

patience

[susan10022018]

Week 10: Glitch

In groups, we performed a class task, which was to create a glitch in real life, or an interruption, etc. Ellie, Bridie and I decided to “interrupt” the social norm of using an elevator by pressing as many of the buttons as we could, and pressing the “close” button when we heard that someone was about to approach it on one of the levels. We also created a soundtrack behind this video to emphasise the idea of interfering with something normal.

[susan10022018]

Assessment Task 3: Group event

The bulk of our group researching and brainstorming for this assessment task can be found in the following Google doc:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-FRUbqPmP1S3YeBzAnEOySFepnDCj9wPAzvAnEg-Pi8/edit?usp=sharing

The class topic that we decided to focus on for this task is collaboration, so the use of a Google doc that all of us can work on at once further reflects this concept. Our idea of collaboration involves a class “event”, which is our “End-of-Semester Party”, as we believe that it would be more collaborative if everyone was able to reminisce together on times from high school and primary school, when we had end-of-term parties. 

Group members: Bridie Oliver, Bryony Lai, Jess Harrison

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Assessment 2 - Rationale and Bibliography

In the modern age, sex has arisen as most controversial yet also popular topic amongst people of all ages. Once taboo in conversations and seen as a way to accuse one of sinning, sex and sexuality have now become one of the most important topics to educate and conversate on. I have seen this growth through acknowledgement of the importance of sexual education as well as increasing awareness of sex as something that can be expressed freely by people. However, it does not seem to be the case in Chinese traditions.

As someone born and raised in a traditional Chinese household, sex or anything close to it has never been mentioned as a point of conversation. This is what I am used to and comfortable with, and have always been; as I grew up though, especially through high school, I found that more and more people were talking about sex, as safe sex and sexually transmitted diseases were gaining more awareness. Even so, in modern day China, considering the political background and the government’s use of censorship, sex and an individual’s sexuality are still sensitive topics.  

I decided to respond to the assignment topic by examining the binaries of dirty and clean, which I redefined as sexuality and decency. From these ideas stemmed the main concept of my final work, which is my attempt to represent two attitudes towards sex: abstinence as a value of Chinese culture and the contemporary world’s increasing willingness to talk about sex. This was much inspired by my research on “shunga”, traditional Japanese artworks of sexually explicit images and erotic fantasies. An article I had read contrasted the Japanese artists’ free thinking on sex with the Western art world’s depiction of such art as pornography, and got me thinking about how different values in different societies can affect the ways in which people view art.

During the research process, I found that it was not easy for myself to just delve straight into the topic, due to lingering thoughts about whether I was dishonouring my culture or not by doing so. It felt like I had to tread around the idea of sex carefully in order to respect the values of traditional China. In a way, this relates to the class topic of ‘value’ as my actions and thoughts were being dictated by the typical values of a traditional Chinese family.

Even so, I found that it was not possible for me to simply instantaneously be open about expressing sex and sexuality. It was in the idea of collaging together aspects of my culture and images of eroticism that I realised something like this is inherently part of human growth. Initially, by gluing erotic images onto traditional Chinese brocade, I intended on simply juxtaposing two ideas prevalent in my life (i.e. values of my culture vs. values of the contemporary world). It was through further experimentation of tapestry and sewing that I discovered that the thread I had sewn randomly through the fabric and pictures represents my attempt to tread around the topic of sex carefully.  

There is much difficulty discerning between what is considered pornography and what is considered art; essentially, it relies on the individual’s own background and cultural values to decide. Reflecting on my experimentation and research process, some artists I was influenced by include collage artists such as Sara Shakeel and Ye Hongxing. Both artists essentially distract viewers from the reality of the shocking scene in their works by ‘bedazzling’ it. Shakeel covers models with glitter and brightly-coloured objects, while in some of Ye’s works, such as “Secret Garden No. 16”, Ye includes a huge collaging of stickers and crystals around a shunga scene. Overall, the concept behind my work basically mimics that of Shakeel’s and Ye’s, as I partially censor erotic images by distracting with thread, sequins and rhinestones. However, my intention is not to completely censor them as I attempt to show a process of exploration of binary ideas that I have attempted to deal with in this assignment.

Bibliography  

Almanac, Art.  2017. Lillian O'Neil - Art Almanac. March 13. Accessed September 10,  2018. https://www.art-almanac.com.au/lillian-oneil/.

Pickman, Kara.  n.d. The Dazzling World of Ye Hongxing. Accessed September 16, 2018. https://miamirail.org/web-exclusives/the-dazzling-world-of-ye-hongxing/.

Sooke, Alistair.  2014. "Sexually explicit Japanese art challenges Western ideas." BBC  - Culture. October 10. Accessed September 12, 2018.  http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20131003-filth-or-fine-art.

n.d. The  Commercial | Lillian O'Neill. Accessed September 10, 2018.  https://thecommercialgallery.com/artist/lillian-oneil/exhibition/118/total-romance.

n.d. Ye  Hongxing. Accessed September 15, 2018.  https://theartling.com/en/artists/ye-hongxing/.

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Assessment 2: Final Work

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Assessment 2: Experiment 5

In alignment with my experimenting with fabrics and textiles, I decided to sew sequins and threads into the images. I have amateur tapestry skills, and the threads that I have sewn run carefully around and through the images. This kind of represents how I have to lightly tread around the topic of sex, and the red and gold sequins here and there show bits of my Chinese background following along, reminding me, when I think or talk about sex, of the values in my heritage. The addition of the rhinestones are inspired by Ye Hongxing’s works, as I tried to shape out parts of the female body (i.e. nipple, vagina). They are a little unrecognisable, as I attempted to kind of censor/blur them by bedazzling them.    

[susan10022018]

Assessment 2: Experiment 4

I glued the images I printed initially onto the brocade, using it as a background for collage. I tried once again to gather the fabric onto the canvas but it became harder to do so with all the images glued onto it, as it was very structured. I was surprised but then again this is one of the first times I have used fabric as a medium for art-making. 

While I was working through this stage of my experiment, I was in my room while my family was at home, and I realised I was alert and kept worrying about if my parents would walk into the room and see me working with these pictures. I think that their first reaction would be confusion rather than shock. In a way, I felt like I was rebelling against my culture by combining erotic images with traditional brocade. This reminded me of the class topic of “value”, as while the Chinese would value the brocade, they would see the erotic images as trash. Essentially, people’s values change how they view art. 

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Assessment 2: Presentation

Presentation of Bree’s final work

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Assessment 2: Experiment 3

Further inspired by Ye Hongxing’s “Carnival”, I wanted to incorporate a 3D style of collaging. I had an idea of making a stand that supported Chinese brocade which I would ravel around it. It didn’t work out as well as I envisioned as the texture of the brocade was had to fold around. 

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Assessment 2: Experiment 2

I felt that working with digital media was too difficult, so instead I printed out some of the erotic images I had found and played around with collaging them physically. The images only show experimenting with placing them on a canvas rather than gluing them down, as I wasn’t sure if I wanted to work with a canvas. The craft roses represent the idea of “deflowering”, or rather flowers that haven’t been “deflowered” as a metaphor for innocence and abstinence. The red and gold sequences represent the colours of the Chinese flag, as I intend on including components of Chinese culture as a binary to the erotic images. 

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Assessment 2: Research/inspiration

Websites accessed:

https://miamirail.org/web-exclusives/the-dazzling-world-of-ye-hongxing/

Upon further research, I discovered some of Ye Hongxing’s other works, in which she incorporates mixed media, such as crystals and stickers to create fantastical scenes such as pictured. I noticed that in some works like “Secret Garden No. 16″, Ye features scenes from traditional Japanese art, in particular shunga. This reminded me of my research process from the first assessment, as I discovered Shakira Shakeel, who uses glitter and flowers to ‘dazzle’ and hence somewhat censor images or scenes that may be obscene or shocking to others. Even though shunga was intensely popular in Japan, since it features sexually explicit scenes it is still seen as shocking to some people. In a way, Ye has ‘bedazzled’ a scene of shunga with stickers and crystals to create wild images. 

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Assessment 2: Experiment 1

In Adobe Illustrator, I layered royalty-free images that I found from the Internet as a sort of initial experiment of my concept. By laying transparent images of traditional Chinese art over erotic images of women, I intended on blurring the line between art in my culture with what I saw as expressions of sexuality. 

This is also one of the first times I have used digital collage as a medium for art-making, and although I created some beautiful images, I did not feel like it was enjoyable or efficient enough for me to continue using Adobe. 

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Assessment 2: Research

Websites accessed:

http://blog.chinadaily.com.cn/thread-814248-1-1.html

https://theartling.com/en/artists/ye-hongxing/

After my initial research of collage artists, I decided to do some research on upcoming Chinese contemporary artists as I felt it related to my own concept more. I discovered Ye Hongxing, who, in the above works, used oil on canvas. She layered elements of traditional Chinese art over faces, which I felt could be an interesting avenue of exploration if I were to do so with collaging. An idea that I can possibly work on is using traditional Chinese art as an overlay on top pornographic or sexually explicit images. In this way, I feel I could be able to assimilate the binaries of sexuality and decency, and as I remarked in the first tumblr post for this assessment, I would have to confront my own reluctance to consider the topic of sexuality.

In a way, this deals with the class topic of “Affect and body politics” as the way we think about sexuality and the way we act sexually depend on the background of politics with which we were raised in. 

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More research

Source: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20131003-filth-or-fine-art

While researching on the concept of sexuality vs. decency, I came across this article (above link) which remarks on pornography vs. art, and how, traditionally, Japanese art or shunga was open to ideas of sex for a “comic response”, while the Western art world considered art involving sexually explicit images as pornography. 

This article was interesting as I saw two opposing chains of thoughts clashing in traditional art. It occurred to me that this idea reflects the clashing binaries of dirty/clean or sexual/decent and could be possible that these two ideas can be integrated into one in contemporary art. 

[susan10022018]

Assessment 2: Research

Websites accessed: 

https://thecommercialgallery.com/artist/lillian-oneil/exhibition/118/total-romance

https://www.art-almanac.com.au/lillian-oneil/

Continuing from the first assessment, I felt that I might keep going with collaging, so I did some research on collage artist Lillian O’Neil. Her works are on large scales and she incorporates images from books and magazines to create kaleidoscopic landscapes. 

“The ongoing search for and mass accumulation of material is an important component of her process.”  

I took this quote from the website above, as I feel like it’s very relevant to some of the topics that I visited during class. O’Neil’s practice indeed involves researching of images that “might stand in for the emotional states of [her] experience.”